Sony Alpha SLT-A77 review

Sony is a relative newcomer to SLR cameras, but we can’t fault it for ambition, or for innovation. It may only have an APS-C sensor, but in almost every other way it’s a beast of a camera.

The 24-megapixel resolution sets the record for this sensor size. GPS and optical stabilisation are built in, and its bank of sockets includes PCsync for triggering studio flash equipment. The LCD screen is doubly articulated, pivoting vertically, horizontally and even reaching above or below the camera. Continuous shooting is at 12fps, and there’s a vast array of shooting modes including HDR, automatic panorama stitching and even 3D panoramas.

We’ve only rated the camera body, but we’re compelled to mention the SLT-A77’s kit lens, which maintains an f/2.8 aperture throughout its 16-50mm zoom range. Canon’s similar 17-55mm f/2.8 lens costs around £800, so it’s astounding the SLT-A77 kit costs £1,033 (£1,240 inc VAT).

The remarkable aspect of this camera is that it isn’t an SLR. Rather than having a mirror that flips up to capture a photo, there’s a fixed, translucent mirror that sends light to both the imaging sensor and the phase-detection autofocus sensor simultaneously. This contributes to the camera’s phenomenal 12fps continuous mode, with focus that updates between shots, and allows smooth, continuous autofocus in videos. The SLT-A77 also focuses much more quickly in live view mode than any conventional DSLR.

The biggest practical difference is the electronic rather than optical viewfinder. DSLR owners may find that it takes some getting used to, but the quality of this 2.4-million-dot screen is stunning and marginally bigger than full-frame DSLRs’ viewfinders. Manual focus also benefits from 
a “peaking” mode that highlights high-contrast (and thus, sharply focused) parts of the frame, a 2x digital magnification function, and a dedicated button to trigger the autofocus when the camera is otherwise set to manual focus. 
The 19-point autofocus sensor is fairly well specified, although the eight points that aren’t cross-type often struggled to focus when presented with anything other than bold details.

The EVF is full of information, including exposure settings, battery capacity and either a digital spirit level or a histogram. The picture becomes grainy in low light, but the ability to preview exposure, white balance and colour-processing settings is very useful.

The 470-shot battery life is shorter than conventional DSLRs, presumably because the sensor and the EVF or LCD are continuously active when composing shots. 
Although 12fps shooting is a remarkable achievement, it’s only available via a dedicated position on the mode dial, which prohibits access to shutter speed and aperture controls. The SLT-A77’s continuous performance in manual exposure mode saw it manage 8fps. The buffer was full after 14 frames, though, whereupon performance dropped to 1.3fps for JPEGs and 1.2fps for raw.

The big, contoured grip is extremely comfortable, and dual command dials and a generous collection of single-function buttons give quick access to the key settings. The controls are a little slow to respond, though, taking around a quarter of a second for the screens to reflect changes. That might not sound like much – and it’s improved since the v1.05 firmware update – but dialling in lots of changes feels unwieldy. Blank memory cards take around 14 seconds to format before shooting can begin. Photo and video folders are browsed separately, and switching between them requires seven button pushes.

The video mode is extremely well specified, with 50p, 50i and 25p capture, plus the ability to span multiple files for clip lengths of up to 30 minutes. Continuous autofocus was responsive and virtually silent with the 16-50mm lens, although other Alpha lenses’ focus motors were noisier.

Continuous autofocus is unavailable in priority and manual exposure modes, though. There’s a microphone socket but no manual volume control or level metering.

Video picture quality was disappointing. Details are softer than on rival cameras, and moiré was particularly psychedelic on repeating patterns. The ISO speed is limited to 1600 for videos, and even this produced noisy clips.

The SLT-A77 fared much better in our photo tests. However, the 24-megapixel resolution didn’t deliver significant gains in details compared with the 16.2-megapixel Nikon D7000, either for JPEGs 
or raw images processed in Lightroom 4. The high pixel density increased noise levels, as did the translucent mirror, which reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor.

The SLT-A77 has many enticing features, and the viewfinder and manual focus functions are highlights. However, photo and video quality aren’t up there with the front-runners at this price point.

Click the links below for full resolution sample shots:
Test scene shot at base ISO, raw file converted with Lightroom 4 (11MB)
Test scene shot at ISO 6400, raw file converted with Lightroom 4 (7MB)
Bridge scene, raw file coverted with Lightroom 4 (13MB)
Resolution test card (5MB)

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